Rotating Tires
- Thread starter hippie
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There's some discussion about that. Most important tire is the front, while most wear happens at the back. So particularly if you rely on the tread pattern, putting a semi-worn tire at the front may well be false economy if you end up wiping out. Getting a new tire for the front and then moving the front to the rear would be a safer option.
I occasionally rotate slick tires, but those change much less in performance as they wear than what treaded tires do and isn't much of an issue IMO as long as the tire is still structurally sound and not too worn.
Do note that some MTB tires claim to be front/rear/rotational direction specific. I've never found this difference critical, but you may notice a change.
I occasionally rotate slick tires, but those change much less in performance as they wear than what treaded tires do and isn't much of an issue IMO as long as the tire is still structurally sound and not too worn.
Do note that some MTB tires claim to be front/rear/rotational direction specific. I've never found this difference critical, but you may notice a change.
... I thought the idea on a bike was to keep both the wheels and tires rotating. Beloki will tell you what happens when a tire stops rotating and causes the wheel to follow suit.
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[COLOR= #ffffff]I know what y'all mean.[/COLOR]
I rotate. The rear tire wears out the fastest, so when the rear wears out I simply move the 50% or so used up front one to the rear and put a new one on the front. That way you always have the best tire on the front where it is needed the most, a front blow out can be more dangerous then a rear so have the best on the front.
I've done the front-to-rear swap in the past, but in the last few years have started buying tires in sets of three, replacing the front tire after going through two rear ones. The Conti GP 4000 last about 3500-4000 miles on the rear before the wear indicator dots disappear while on the front they are still visible after double that mileage. I like the idea of not messing with the front tire when it looks fine.....maybe because it supports my general maintenance philosophy of leaving things alone when they are working fine.
Overall though, it's hard to argue against the front-to-rear swap, since it gets a newer tire on the front more often, and allows to maximize the wear of each tire before replacement. Suppose the only real advantage to the "two-to-one" method is less work in tire-changing, and that's really not so much.
Overall though, it's hard to argue against the front-to-rear swap, since it gets a newer tire on the front more often, and allows to maximize the wear of each tire before replacement. Suppose the only real advantage to the "two-to-one" method is less work in tire-changing, and that's really not so much.
Where do you live? Because asphalt conditions do change depending where you live. I lived in California and Indiana, and neither of those places would GP's last that long, but be it as it is.
I actually got into an discussion with this very topic with Sheldon Brown many years ago. I felt that the best tire should be on the rear due to the rear being more susceptible to flats, and it was more work removing the rear, and I had blowouts going around mountain curves in the rear and went down once. He, Sheldon Brown, convinced me it would be a lot worse having a blowout on the front, the tire would blow, then in less then a second the tire could peel off the rim and you would go end over end instead of just sliding out. I can't remember too much about the specifics of the discussion other then I changed the way I did things after that. I had heard of doing this before, but until I talked to Sheldon about it I thought it was just mumbo jumbo from a few of the other riders. So due to that discussion I now make sure the best tire is on the front and I do that by rotating. By the time I rotate a used front it only has roughly 2/3 to 1/2 rubber left so it actually works out quite well, and I only have to buy one tire at any given time, but I have right now about 3 pairs of new tires I got on a closeout.
Anyway please read this site starting on page 16 (there are 2 pages per screen) for more detailed reasons for the better tire on front thing. http://ihpva.org/HParchive/PDF/hp51-2001.pdf further reading as a great article written making a good argument for having tight fitting pain the **** tires, another little fact I learned long ago, something a lot of riders on forums are always searching for loose fitting tires and complaining when their too tight.
Froze, I live in Huntsville, AL, just like it says on the right side of my signature block 
Our roads are pretty smooth here, I run 100-110 psi in the tires, and being old, don't push the pedals very hard any more. The GP4000s do give me the best life and puncture resistance of the (few) tires I've used: to me they are worth the rather high cost. Probably other "sportive" tires (eg, Mich Krylion) would be as durable, but I'm looking to save that last few watts of rolling resistance in a vain attempt to stay with my faster club buddies.
There's no doubt in my mind that the front tire is more critical to our health and safety. But not sure there is a significant difference in safety (ie, grip and puncture resistance) between a new GP4000 front tire and one that has 2/3 of it's rubber remaining.
Still, as I said, it's hard to argue with having the newest tire on the front via the rotation method.....believe I'll go back to doing that. With the 2 rear/1 front method, I do like the feeling of having "all new rubber" on the bike at every other rear change, but suppose that's not really an advantage.
Our roads are pretty smooth here, I run 100-110 psi in the tires, and being old, don't push the pedals very hard any more. The GP4000s do give me the best life and puncture resistance of the (few) tires I've used: to me they are worth the rather high cost. Probably other "sportive" tires (eg, Mich Krylion) would be as durable, but I'm looking to save that last few watts of rolling resistance in a vain attempt to stay with my faster club buddies. There's no doubt in my mind that the front tire is more critical to our health and safety. But not sure there is a significant difference in safety (ie, grip and puncture resistance) between a new GP4000 front tire and one that has 2/3 of it's rubber remaining.
Still, as I said, it's hard to argue with having the newest tire on the front via the rotation method.....believe I'll go back to doing that. With the 2 rear/1 front method, I do like the feeling of having "all new rubber" on the bike at every other rear change, but suppose that's not really an advantage.
We had a similar discussion going on a few months back which I cant find the thread. I had posted on that thread a story about how I decided to save a few bucks and rotate my tires. I had a pair of Hutchinsion Fusion Comp II tires on my bike with about 2000 miles on them. The rear tire as always was about 50% more worn than the front. I figured that at the rate of wear I could easily squeeze another 1000 miles by switching the rear to the front and vice verse. I was rewarded for this move the first ride I went on. I was going down a hill that levels off into an S curve in a fairly secluded area. I have always enjoyed going down this hill and hitting the curve a little over 25 MPH. Speed with a little technical handling fun fun. Well my front tire blew out half way down the hill I had great difficulty handling the bike and was very lucky to bring it to a complete stop before the curve. With that said I now use the front to rear and rear off method. My front tire will always be my best.
I wouldn't really think of that as rotating, as you're replacing one simultaneously.With rotating I think of what used to be common practice on rear wheel drive cars. Rear would wear fastest, and need the better tires, so rear and front were shifted around to even out the wear. After a few "turns" both sets would be worn to the point where replacement became necessary..
You right when it comes to cars, by the way it's also true for front wheel drive that your best tire need to be on the rear this is due to the rear end fishtailing and causing a spin out if the tires are subject. But we're not talking about cars we're talking about bicycles and their different then cars. A front blow out on a bike, as Davero witnessed first hand, can get dicy depending upon if it happens in a curve at high speed. Always keep in mind that if you have a front blow out DON'T use the front brake, use only the rear.
